Time capsuling is hard. Most capsules from the 20th century are lost, damaged, or simply forgotten. But with any luck, these eleven time capsules — all intended to be opened in the year 2014 — will find their way safely above ground sometime this year.
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Back in the 1920s, the New York Electrical Show
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From the story of Upton Sinclair’s failed utopian community in New Jersey to that post about DARPA actually trying to build Skynet in the 1980s — these were the longform stories that you swore you’d finish one day but never got around to. Well, here’s your second chance.
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Drunk driving combines two of America’s favorite pastimes: getting absolutely hammered and driving an automobile. But before the invention of the modern breathalyzer in the 1950s, determining if someone was too intoxicated to operate a motor vehicle was incredibly subjective. It took decades for law enforcement technology to catch up with one of our most pervasive crimes.
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It was an exciting year for time capsules! Am I allowed to say without getting my lunch money stolen and then violently stuffed into a locker?
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Did Nikola Tesla actually work as a swimming instructor? What’s the deal with that famous photo of Albert Einstein and his therapist? Did they actually make radiation-aged bourbon back in the 1960s? Nope!
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Imagine being able to send a Christmas card electronically. Sounds crazy futuristic, right? Well that’s what this Sunday newspaper comic promised to the good people of 1960. Though it was a bit more complicated than the e-cards and emails we send today.
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In 1968, model Vicki Dunlap was featured in newspapers around the country as the face of the future. But that stylish makeup of tomorrow wasn’t just for show. It was to protect from L.A.’s smog-filled air.
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Our nation’s talking heads love to blame real world crime on various forms of media. Whether it’s sexual video games, poopmouth song lyrics, or violent movies, we’re led to believe that junk media creates deviance. But this is far from a new phenomenon. In fact, your great-great grandparents probably heard identical warnings about the new media of their day: Movies.
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Television was hardly a reliable broadcast medium in the early 1930s. But that didn’t stop companies from speculating about TV designs of the future. Like this Marconi-brand "radio set of 1960."
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